Whitecaps FC welcome 17 new players into Residency program

April 16, 20121:58 PM PDT

Vancouver Whitecaps FC have welcomed 17 new players into the Residency program for their first day of training on Monday as part of the club’s new Pre-Residency structure.

“We’re really excited to bring in a very talented young group,” said Richard Grootscholten, Whitecaps FC Residency technical director and head coach. “To have these players in now with several months of training during summer weather will be very beneficial.”

As part of this new structure, Whitecaps FC will now have three Pre-Residency teams: U-13, U-14 and U-15. This is in addition to the club’s U-16 and U-18 Residency squads.

The addition of these 17 new players born in 2000 and 2001 (listed below) forms the core of the U-13 squad. Players were selected through extensive scouting from Whitecaps FC coaching staff, Prospects programming, and through final evaluations of player combines held by each of the eight EA SPORTS BC Soccer Premier League clubs. Evaluations were conducted with support from BC Soccer Development staff who assisted with providing information, guidelines and scouting, as well as with gracious cooperation from all clubs involved.